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July Edition
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NOTES FROM THE COAST
2008 Rookery Nest Count — May 4, 2008 The Rookery nest count was a little late this year as the birds all started early. NT Cormorants started nesting in late September 2007 and have been on nests since. There is no way of knowing how many nests there ultimately were. Some of the Great Egrets were already done and chicks were gone. Many birds have moved to the trees in Grackle Pond especially Little Blue Herons and Tricolored Herons. This is probably due to lack of space in Claybottom Pond. Nesting appears to have been productive. Count conducted by Julia Garrett, Joanna Friesen, Sandy McHone and Winnie Burkett Neotropic Cormorants 135 Anhinga 2 Great Egrets 209 Snowy Egrets 138 Little Blue Heron 21 Tricolored Heron 39 Cattle Egret 83 Black-crowned Night-Heron 3 Roseate Spoonbill 82 - Winnie Burkett, Sanctuary Manager Sanctuary Blog By popular demand we've started a sanctuary blog. You'll find a link for it on the front page of the Houston Audubon website in the upper right-hand corner. This will be the new home for Winnie's Notes from the Coast, and Flo and Andrew will also be writing about their activities. We'll cover all aspects of the sanctuaries and also news about work days and sanctuary volunteers. As an example, here's what Andrew wrote about his day getting down and dirty with the tallows in Horseshoe Marsh. 6/26/2008 Horseshoe Marsh Today I met Winnie and Logan, Audubon's Summer Intern, in Port Bolivar. Chris Peterson's crew of 12 were gearing up to enter Horseshoe Marsh and begin treating the millions of Chinese tallow trees in Horseshoe Marsh. The idea is to remove as many trees as possible to a level where marsh management is easily measured. With so many tallows standing now, it is difficult to comprehend how to implement a management plan, or even what we want to gain from it. So we had to start somewhere, and this morning we found ourselves starting at 29th St. I hadn't seen Chris in a few months, but I recognized him as the one moving around all the trucks and gear with a fair pace and talking to Winnie. He had an industrial long sleeve work shirt on that said "Karl". I withheld from asking if he was going by Karl these days, but I am sure his response would have been quick and witty. His crew looked ready and willing to take on the first day's work. They all sat on the flatbed trailer that carried the ATV over via the ferry and sharpened their various types of machetes. The slide and ring of steel on steel in such chaotic unison was really something to witness. I was astounded for a moment as I watched men respect the very tool that would earn their living for the day. Chris talked to us about his hack-and-squirt method as opposed to a foliar spray method of herbiciding the tallows. And with blades as sharp as the workers', I didn't see any reason to argue. 
Tallows responding to herbicide treatment. We decided that Logan and I should walk the invisible property line that forms an "L" around the tower company's land on the northeast corner of the bird sanctuary. A few weeks back, Logan and I walked a 50 acre section of marsh to the south of the tower and mowed a 3' wide perimeter strip with the all-terrain mower. We also set coordinate points on the handheld GPS of the corners of that tract. This morning I was thankful we did, because we were able to set the points and walk a mostly straight line right to them. In some areas we walked easily, ducking under an occasional tallow limb and in other areas we were waist deep in spartina that had especially rude needle tip points on the ends. When they stick you, it feels like a deer fly just bit you. When three or four stick you, it feels like a mob of bees is attacking you. We got to our first point, marked it on the GPS, flagged it for the crew that was somewhere way back behind us, and set our next destination point. The "L" shaped line we marked would give Chris' crew a good idea of what trees to hack and where to aim their squirts. The rest of the day was spent walking the sanctuary and flagging areas that mark our property lines. We gained a good understanding of the terrain of the marsh and learned which areas had tallow problems. When the afternoon storms started to rumble, I headed for the ferry, the mainland, and home to Houston. - Andrew Beck, Sanctuary Steward |
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